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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481063">Remus</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfzhyza/pseuds/PanicAtTheEverywhere'>PanicAtTheEverywhere (elfzhyza)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love Ties a Family Together [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Family, Family Feels, Frozen Yogurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Kid Deceit | Janus Sanders, M/M, Other, Parent Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Parent Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Parent Logic | Logan Sanders, Parent Morality | Patton Sanders, Past Child Abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:22:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,914</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfzhyza/pseuds/PanicAtTheEverywhere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sanders manage to rescue a friend of Janus' from an abusive household, but removing someone from a damaging situation doesn't just magically fix all the trauma.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders &amp; Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders &amp; Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders &amp; Everyone, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love Ties a Family Together [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766695</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>147</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Remus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>trigger warnings: past abuse, food, mentions of eating</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Patton had pulled up in front of Janus' school, Janus (age 9) had practically bounded up to him, hand in hand with another boy about his age.</p><p> </p><p>"I made a friend!" Janus had told Patton excitedly. "His name is Remus."</p><p> </p><p>The other boy had grinned, and his front teeth had a gap. "Hello! Nice to meet you, Mr. Sanders!"</p><p> </p><p>"It's nice to meet you too, Remus." Remus had held out his hand, and Patton had stifled a chuckle as he'd shook the small hand.</p><p> </p><p>When Janus (14) had come home from his friend Remus' house crying, Patton had immediately known something was wrong. Janus had told him a tale of violence and described Remus' bruises and Remus' parents' harsh words and Patton had to do <em>something.</em></p><p> </p><p>He still doesn't know how they managed to win custody. They'd had a lawyer friend of theirs, Remy, do most of the actual law stuff, but they'd reported Remus' parents to the social services and had somehow managed to get custody over any of the other possible parental candidates. He's so, <em>so</em> grateful that everything worked out, for Remus’ sake. He deserves better, and hopefully Patton and his husbands can provide that for him.</p><p> </p><p>Remus lives with the Sanders now that his parents are out of the picture. They'd had to get another bed, and he shares a room with Janus.</p><p> </p><p>Patton is walking past Janus' door when he hears crying. He stops and listens; it's definitely crying. Janus is at the mall with Logan and Roman, so it must be Remus.</p><p> </p><p>Patton knocks gently on the door. He doesn't get a response, so he eases it open.</p><p> </p><p>Remus is sitting on his bed, arms curled around his knees, which are pulled to his chest. He's crying, and Patton bites his lip.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey there, ki— Remus." He's been deliberately not addressing Remus as his kid, since Remus is <em>not</em> his kid (as he keeps reminding himself).</p><p> </p><p>Remus glances up at him and sniffles, but he doesn't speak.</p><p> </p><p>"Can I come in?" Patton asks.</p><p> </p><p>"Well, actually, it's 'may I come in,'" Remus corrects a little cheekily. "I learned that from Logan."</p><p> </p><p>"Of course you did." That's just like Logan. Of course he's teaching eighth graders about can vs. may, Logan always used to pester Patton whenever he'd use the wrong one. "So, <em>may</em> I come in?"</p><p> </p><p>Remus smiles weakly at Patton's attempts. "Yeah." Patton closes the door softly behind him, settling down next to Remus on his bed.</p><p> </p><p>"Is this about your parents?" Remus nods. "Do you want to talk about it?" A shrug. "Okay. Do you want me to stay with you?" A nod. "I can do that." Patton slides back so he's sitting on the bed with his back to the wall, sort of like how Remus is sitting but without the upright fetal position.</p><p> </p><p>Patton watches Remus out of the corner of his eye. He's worried about him. They may have gotten him out of a bad situation, but that doesn't magically make it all better. Trauma doesn't go away as soon as you leave the situation that caused it.</p><p> </p><p>"Can—" Remus coughs, and Patton shoots him a playful glare. "May I text Virgil? He’s upstairs painting. Do you think you'd want to talk to him? He's been in… a similar situation to yours." Remus nods, resting his chin on his knees. Patton nods in return, quickly sending a text to Virgil.</p><p> </p><p>Virgil enters the room cautiously a few minutes later, dried paint stuck under his fingernails because he hasn't had the time recently for a deep scrub. He quietly greets the both of them, sitting down on Remus' other side.</p><p> </p><p>"Do you maybe… feel like talking?" he asks, and Remus nods again, shifting around into a new, more comfortable position.</p><p> </p><p>"I can leave if you'd like," Patton offers, but, to his surprise, Remus grabs his hand.</p><p> </p><p>"Don't go. Please."</p><p> </p><p>"Okay. I won't leave, I promise." Patton feels so much fatherly love for this boy who isn't even his own, and while he's only known Remus for just over 5 years, Remus is just as much an important part of his life as Janus is. "Is it okay if I touch your hair?" Remus makes a small sound of agreement, and as Patton plays with his hair, he can feel Remus relax.</p><p> </p><p>"So." Virgil is serious, his brows furrowed, his eyes unsmiling. "What your parents did to you wasn't okay. I'm sorry.</p><p> </p><p>"I used to be a foster kid. I was never adopted, and I just bounced around from family to family until I turned eighteen. I had some good caretakers and some fucking awful ones."</p><p> </p><p>"Language," Patton murmurs, still playing with Remus' hair. "Please don't teach the eighth grader swear words." He wants to help Remus as much as he can, and that includes not stressing him out. Normally he would have called that out a bit louder, but it's just Virgil and Remus here and currently they're both easy to startle.</p><p> </p><p>"Sorry, but there's no other way to describe just how awful they were to me other than to go into detail." Virgil shrugs, staring at a spot on the bed covers where a thread has come loose. "Long story short, what they did to me affected me physically and emotionally and mentally. And it wasn't just the one family either—I was unlucky and it happened with two different families. I had to go to therapy for years before I really felt better." He tries to smile down at Remus, who's watching him with an unsure expression.</p><p> </p><p>"Is it…" Remus' voice is hoarse, and he clears his throat. "Is it wrong if I miss them?" His question is little more than a whisper, and he seems to shrink on himself as he asks.</p><p> </p><p>"Not at all," assures Virgil. "It’s not bad and it’s not <em>wrong</em> to feel like this. They're still… your parents, even if they hurt you. They raised you for fourteen whole years. That's a long time to live with someone and <em>not</em> miss them when they're gone. They're family."</p><p> </p><p>"I don't want them to be my family," Remus grumbles, and Patton makes eye contact with Virgil. He and his husbands have been discussing adopting Remus, but they'd agreed to wait until Remus said something to even approach the idea.</p><p> </p><p>"Remus." Patton smiles as Remus' green eyes, so reminiscent of Roman's, focus on him. "We've been discussing this for a little while. Well, as soon as you came to live with us, actually. You said you don't want them to be your family, but what if we became your family?"</p><p> </p><p>Remus stares at him blankly. "Aren't we already basically family?"</p><p> </p><p>Patton loves this boy with all his heart.</p><p> </p><p>"That's sweet, but I meant, you know…" Remus' eyes are still confused.</p><p> </p><p>"What he's trying to ask is if you want us to adopt you." Remus' head swivels around to look at him as Virgil speaks, then back to Patton with wide eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"You… want me? You'd really want me as your son?" Remus' eyes glisten and he's suddenly vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>"Of course." Patton squeezes the hand he's still holding. "You're… well… you're sweet and thoughtful, and while you may be a bit impulsive and reckless at times, we can provide the bandaids." Remus laughs at the joke, and Patton lets out a relieved breath. "So what do you say? Janus' brother?"</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah." And Remus hugs Patton with reckless abandon, and Patton laughs though he's almost crying, and Virgil takes a discreet picture with his phone and sends it to his other husbands in the group chat with a message briefly describing what had happened.</p><p> </p><p>When Roman and Logan return later with Janus and fifty dollars' worth of items they didn't have before the trip, Roman immediately sweeps Remus into a hug like he always does with Janus, spinning him around, and Remus had thought this was a thing Roman only did with Janus but he's happy, really, truly <em>happy</em> for the first time in a long time. And when Roman sets him down, Logan and Janus are standing by the door looking amused, and he runs over and pulls them both into one simultaneous hug. Logan is taken aback but pleasantly surprised, and Janus hugs Remus back with everything he's got because Remus is going to be his brother and this boy absolutely deserves the happiness he hasn't been able to have in so long.</p><p> </p><p>A little over a year later, Remus is officially declared a Sanders, <em>Remus Sanders,</em> it's music to his ears. Patton takes the whole family out for ice cream, except Janus finds out halfway there that Remus has never had frozen yogurt and so they make a detour and go to get frozen yogurt instead.</p><p> </p><p>Remus is amazed by all the flavors. "There's so many," he keeps saying, and finally Janus says, "Wait until you get to the toppings," and Remus looks where he's pointing and his jaw drops even more.</p><p> </p><p>Despite all this, when it's time to check out, Remus only has vanilla frozen yogurt and no toppings.</p><p> </p><p>Roman frowns. "Don't you want anything else?"</p><p> </p><p>Remus blinks. "Can I… get more? Is that allowed?" <em>His parents,</em> Roman reminds himself, and he barely keeps himself from growling in frustration at those horrible people who damaged such a wonderful boy.</p><p> </p><p>"Yes, of course it's allowed!" he exclaims, throwing his hands in the air, and Remus steps back. "Shit. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not mad, I promise."</p><p> </p><p>"You <em>are</em> mad," Remus says.</p><p> </p><p>"Okay, yes, I am mad, but not at you." Roman sets down his fro-yo, running one hand through his hair. "How about this: you go absolutely apeshit, okay? Pick as many flavors as you want, and as many toppings as you want, yes, even the ones that aren't fruit. We'll pay for it, I promise." Remus doesn't appear convinced. "Look, I'll bargain with Logan. Just go! You're a kid, eat like 6 different flavors of fro-yo and all of the toppings if you'd like."</p><p> </p><p>The second time they're ready to check out, Remus steps up to the counter with a bowl practically overflowing with multicolored fro-yo and various chocolate-adjacent toppings. He spots Logan's and Virgil's questioning looks. "Look, Roman said, and I quote, 'Go absolutely apeshit.' That's what I did."</p><p> </p><p>Patton turns on Roman. "Did you swear in front of the child?"</p><p> </p><p>"Hey, hey." Roman holds his hands up disarmingly. "Yes, I may have said apeshit—"</p><p> </p><p>"Don't say it again, then!"</p><p> </p><p>"—in front of the child, but he needed a little speech, okay? And we all know my best, most passionate speeches come with swear words and that can't be helped!"</p><p> </p><p>"Well, you could certainly have chosen a different word," mutters Patton, but he's not really mad. Remus knows this argument happens at least once a week, but the cashier, a man with a nose piercing, doesn't know this, and so he looks slightly uneasy as he rings up their fro-yo. Of course, the cost for Remus' is much higher than it had been before, for a very good reason. They get it for here, then choose a table outside, or rather, two adjacent tables, since they can't fit six people around one small round table.</p><p> </p><p>Remus has never been happier as he savors the frozen yogurt on his tongue and Patton and Roman continue their little staged argument. He thinks he finally understands what <em>family</em> means.</p>
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